And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.
Parallel translations
- WEB Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her, and went in to her.
- BSB There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her.
- NKJV And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her and went in to her.
- NASB Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her as a wife and had relations with her.
- NLT There he saw a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua, and he married her. When he slept with her,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Judah marries a Canaanite woman, ignoring his family's concern to avoid such unions.
Overview
Abraham and Isaac had both taken care that their sons not marry Canaanites, yet Judah does so casually. The quick, undescribed union signals Judah's drift from his fathers' covenant convictions. God will nevertheless weave even this compromised marriage into His redemptive purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Chr 2:3The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD; and he slew him.
- Gen 24:3And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
- Gen 3:6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
- 2 Sam 11:2And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
- Judg 14:2And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
- Judg 16:1Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.
- Gen 6:2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
- 2 Cor 6:14Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
- Gen 6:4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
- Gen 46:12And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.
- Gen 34:2And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 38:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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